Egypt Archive
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Egyptian cemetery may contain one million graves from Roman and Byzantine eras
Posted on December 22, 2014 | No CommentsThe announcement of a potentially huge gravesite in Egypt has led the world's media to make claims that a million mummies have been discovered. Now, the entire archaeological project might be in jeopardy. -
Unexpected Evidence concerning Gold Mining in Early Byzantium
Posted on November 9, 2014 | No CommentsOne of the consequences of the decline of Roman imperial might was the shortage of slaves at state-run mines. Consequently, criminals were often sentenced to damnatio ad metallum. The need for gold especially soared when the gold solidus was introduced at the beginning of the fourth century. -
The Perils of Polygamy in 15th century Cairo
Posted on November 5, 2014 | No CommentsUnder medieval Islamic law, a man could marry up to four women. However, if accounts from 15th century Egypt are indicative, it would be rare for such an arrangement to work out for all parties. -
Christian Charm Discovered on 1,500-year-old Tax Receipt
Posted on September 11, 2014 | No CommentsA 1,500 year old papyrus fragment found in The University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library has been identified as one the world’s earliest surviving Christian charms. -
Amending the Ascetic: Community and Character in the Old English Life of St. Mary of Egypt
Posted on August 12, 2014 | No CommentsAmong the most eligible saints for such treatment, Mary of Egypt deserves particular consideration: her popularity is evidenced by over a hundred extant Greek manuscripts of her Life and her uniquely prominent position in the Lenten liturgical cycle in the Eastern Church. -
Restaurants, Inns and Taverns That Never Were: Some Reflections on Public Consumption in Medieval Cairo
Posted on August 2, 2014 | No CommentsThe article shows that, contrary to a commonly accepted assumption, no public consumption facilities such as restaurants, taverns or inns existed in medieval Cairo. -
The Unwritten Chapter: Notes towards a Social and Religious History of Geniza Magic
Posted on July 23, 2014 | No CommentsHow might the historian of religions write a social and religious history of Jewish magic in the medieval Islamicate world? -
Two Rabbinic Views of Christianity in the Middle Ages
Posted on June 15, 2014 | No CommentsIn the sessions of our section over the past decade, I introduced a significant distinction between two rabbinic attitudes in the Mediterranean countries during the Middle Ages of 12th and 13th centuries as to their view of Christianity. -
The Daily Life of Slavery and the Global Reach of Slavery in Medieval Egypt, 969-1250 CE
Posted on May 1, 2014 | No CommentsThis dissertation examines the geography of the slave trade, the role of slavery in the household, and the lives of domestic slave women in the Egyptian Jewish community under the rule of the Fatimid caliphate and Ayyubid sultanate -
The Red Sea and the Port of Clysma. A Possible Gate of Justinian’s Plague
Posted on March 10, 2014 | No CommentsThe aim of this study is to present the sea and land commercial routes of the Byzantine Egypt and their role in the dissemination of the plague bacteria Yersinia pestis from the Red Sea to Mediterranean ports. The Mediterranean port of Pelusium was considered as the starting point of the first plague pandemic... -
Drug Overdose, Disability and Male Friendship in Fifteenth-Century Mamluk Cairo
Posted on February 22, 2014 | No CommentsShihab al-Din al-Hijazi (1388-1471) was an unexceptional legal student in Mamluk Cairo, who, at the age of 24, overdosed on marking nut, a potent plant drug valued for its memory-enhancing properties -
Ibn Wāṣil: An Ayyūbid Perspective on Frankish Lordships and Crusades
Posted on January 27, 2014 | No CommentsIbn Wāṣil (604/1208-697/1298) was a relatively prominent scholar and administrator who had close links with the political and military elites of Ayyūbid- and early Mamlūk-period Egypt and Syria throughout his career. -
Environmental Effects in the Agriculture of Medieval Egypt
Posted on January 20, 2014 | No CommentsAgriculture has been the main source of the economy for all dynasties established in Egypt and the Mamluk kingdom was no exception. -
Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition
Posted on November 24, 2013 | No CommentsA diverse yet distinctive group of magical amulets has periodically attracted the attention of scholars from Renaissance times to the present. The amulets take many forms, including engraved gems and cameos, enamel pendants, die-struck bronze tokens, cast or engraved pendants of gold, silver, bronze, and lead, and rings of silver and bronze. -
Grain Prices in Cairo and Europe in the Middle Ages
Posted on November 14, 2013 | No CommentsHow did price levels and trends in Cairo compare to those in Europe? -
Synthesis of Thought and Action: Muslim-Christian Political, Military and Theological Cohesion From the Time of the First Caliphs to the Reign of the Fatimid Empire
Posted on October 19, 2013 | No CommentsMuslim-Christian theological synthesis, beginning in the Umayyad period and culminating in eleventh century Fatimid Egypt, will be explored through the particular lens of Coptic-Christian clerical and lay efforts to appropriate the Arabic cultural language as a means of religious survival and dialogue with Muslim apologists. -
The Black Death in the Middle East and Europe
Posted on October 9, 2013 | No CommentsI specifically look at England and Egypt as case studies and I'm really gonna talk more about Egypt here. -
Sending Home for Mom and Dad: The Extended Family Impulse in Mamluk Politics
Posted on September 21, 2013 | No CommentsAlthough the biological sons of sultans did inherit their father’s positions, everyone, including the dying sultan and the son himself, knew that the son was functioning as a placeholder, since real power would then be assumed by one or even multiple commanders, either covertly, in which case the nominal sultan remained as a figurehead, or overtly, in which case the nominal sultan was deposed. -
Sayyida Hurra: The Isma’ili Sulayhid Queen of Yemen Farhad Daftary
Posted on September 8, 2013 | No CommentsThis article explores the career of queen Sayyida Hurra, she was the political and religious leader of Sulayhid Yemen, which was an extremely rare occurrence and privilege for a woman in Fatimid times -
Plagues, Epidemics and Their Social and Economic Impact on the Egyptian Society during the Mameluke Period
Posted on July 24, 2013 | No CommentsThe study aims at shedding light on plagues and epidemics that hit Egypt during the Mameluke period through describing the plague disease and the plagues and epidemics that hit Egypt, and their social and economic effects on the Egyptian society, The study is based on some historical sources contemporary of the Mameluke period, especially the book "Al-Suluk li-marifatiduwal Al-muluk" by Al Maqrizi. -
Life and death in late ancient and early medieval Egyptian monasteries
Posted on June 11, 2013 | No CommentsSince 2006, Stephen Davis has served as Executive Director of the Yale Monastic Archaeology Project, conducting field work and training graduate students at two sites in Egypt: the White Monastery near Sohag and the Monastery of John the Little in Wadi al-Natrun. -
Wonders and Wisdom: Anglo-Saxons and the East
Posted on April 11, 2013 | No CommentsWhat the Anglo-Saxons ‘‘knew’’ about Moslems and Jews, and about Babylon and Egypt and India, depended upon Biblical exegesis, saints’ lives, and other texts derived from Latin sources. Numerous Old English texts, as well as Latin versions that circulated and were copied in Anglo-Saxon England, concern Asia; these are quite varied in genre and in content. -
Bīmāristān Al-Manṣūrī: State and Medical Practice in Mamluk Egypt (1285-1390)
Posted on April 11, 2013 | No CommentsThe Bīmāristān was the major part of a huge complex built in the center of Cairo in 1285 by the Mamluk Sultan al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn, who was the founder of the Qalāwūnid dynasty/dawlah that ruled the Mamluk empire for over a century -
The Death Toll of Justinian’s Plague and Its Effects on the Byzantine Empire
Posted on April 4, 2013 | No CommentsIn 541 a plague arrived in Egypt and rapidly began to spread. The following account of the beginning of the plague, while clearly an exaggeration still shows the impact of the disease. -
Al-Maqrizi and the Fatimids
Posted on March 3, 2013 | No CommentsThere are other less dramatic examples. Only a small section of the massive history by al-Musabbih ̋| (d. 420/1029)2 has been recovered and it is now in the Escorial. On the title page of that manuscript is the signature of al-Maqr|z|, indicating apparently that he once possessed and/or used it.
